Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

D-backs, Pavin Smith Avoid Arbitration

By | at

The Diamondbacks avoided arbitration with first baseman/outfielder Pavin Smith by agreeing to a one-year, $1.5MM deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’d been projected for a $1.6MM salary by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

Smith, 29 next month, was selected with the No. 7 pick by Arizona back in 2017. He’s not lived up to that lofty billing but did enjoy a breakout showing in the big leagues this past season, mashing at a .270/.348/.547 clip. That stout production came in a fairly small sample of 158 trips to the plate, but it was supported by career-best batted ball metrics; Smith averaged a hearty 90.2 mph off the bat and put 44% off his batted balls in play at 95 mph or more.

Smith also drew a free pass in an excellent 11.4% of his plate appearances and fanned in a lower-than-average 19.4% of his trips to the plate. As with his quality of contact, that plate discipline holds up with a look under the hood. Only seven percent of hitters in baseball (min. 150 plate appearances) chased pitches off the plate at a lower rate than Smith last season (20.1%). Only 14% of players in that same set made contact at a better rate than Smith’s 90.5% when swinging at pitches within the strike zone. Put more simply, Smith showed keen knowledge of the strike zone and very, very rarely missed when attacking a ball over the plate. That type of discipline and bat-to-ball prowess is hard to fluke your way into over even a sample as limited as his 2024 showing.

This marks Smith’s first offseason of arbitration eligibility and his first time earning noticeably north of the league minimum. He’s out of minor league options, so Smith is a veritable lock to make the Opening Day roster, barring injury.

Smith won’t be entrusted with regular time at first base even after the Snakes lost Christian Walker to free agency, as Arizona quickly pivoted and acquired Josh Naylor to man the position. However, he should log ample time at designated hitter now that Joc Pederson has also left the club for a two-year deal in Texas, and he’d presumably be the primary alternative at first base should Naylor incur an injury or simply require a breather. Smith can also rotate into either left or right field in the event of an injury or day off for Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and/or Jake McCarthy. Smith is a career .226/.289/.310 hitter against lefties and thus isn’t likely to see much action against southpaws, but he’s a .249/.333/.427 hitter against righties — including a huge .282/.356/.564 showing this past season. He’s controllable through the 2027 season.

Rangers Could Be Done With Bullpen Additions

By | at

The Rangers have massively overhauled their bullpen this winter, watching Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Jose Leclerc and Andrew Chafin depart via free agency while adding Chris Martin, Jacob Webb, Hoby Milner, Robert Garcia and Shawn Armstrong in their stead. It’s a group that has plenty of big league experience but lacks the track record and relative star power of their departed firemen — Yates and Robertson in particular. Be that as it may, this week’s reunion with Martin could be the final piece of the relief puzzle for Texas. General manager Ross Fenstermaker told the Rangers beat in the wake of the Martin deal that the Rangers “feel like we’ve done the bulk of our lifting at this point” (link via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News).

That’s not a firm declaration that the team is done adding. Fenstermaker was careful to leave the door open for “creative” and “open-minded” solutions to further deepen the group. However, adding a seasoned closer is not something the organization feels is a pressing need.

Texas entered the offseason making little secret of the fact that its top priority was to re-sign Nathan Eovaldi — a goal they achieved on a three-year, $75MM deal that exceeded general expectations but reflected the steep price of rotation help on this offseason’s open market. At the same time, the Rangers have been angling for ways to remain under the luxury tax, which helps to explain the decision to trade first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to the Nationals (in exchange for the aforementioned Garcia). Lowe will be replaced at first base by trade acquisition Jake Burger, who’ll earn scarcely more than the league minimum. His left-handed bat will be largely replaced by free agent signee Joc Pederson.

It’s been a creative roster shuffle — one that’s left the Rangers with a talented but injury-prone rotation, a collection of relievers more accurately described as hopefuls than locks to produce, and a reshaped lineup that the front office is hopeful can be more productive against fastballs (a fatal flaw for the ’24 club).

It stands to reason that further dealings could intensify the roster shuffle. Right-hander Jon Gray, entering the final season of his four-year contract, has been an oft-speculated trade candidate. Trading him would trim $13MM from the payroll and perhaps create the flexibility needed to pursue a reunion with Yates or Robertson — while also leaving some CBT breathing room for in-season trade activity. Moving Gray would naturally thin out the rotation depth, but any of Dane Dunning, Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter or non-roster invitee Adrian Houser could step up to join Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle and Cody Bradford on the starting staff.

For the time being, it looks like Martin could be the top choice in the ninth inning, but that’ll be left up to manager Bruce Bochy, Fenstermaker emphasized. The GM voiced confidence that Martin could fill the role and acknowledged that he’s in the “candidate pool” but added that the situation will “sort itself out” in the weeks/months ahead. As things stand, RosterResource projects the Rangers about $6MM shy of the $241MM luxury-tax threshold.

Giants Claim Sam Huff, Designate Austin Warren

By | at

The Giants claimed catcher Sam Huff off waivers from the Rangers and designated reliever Austin Warren for assignment in a corresponding move. Both teams have announced their end of the transaction.

Huff, 27 next week, once ranked not just as the Rangers’ top catching prospect but one of the top 100 prospects in the sport. He’s appeared in parts of four big league seasons now but has played sparingly in recent seasons. He’s appeared in 78 big league games and slashed .258/.313/.455 with 10 homers in 214 plate appearances. It’s quality production overall, but Huff has also benefited from a .353 average on balls in play while fanning in just over one-third of his big league plate appearances.

Huff barely saw the majors last season, in large part due to prolonged struggles in Triple-A. Despite prior success at the top minor league level, he slashed .246/.310/.416 in Round Rock last year. That looks solid enough relative to major league averages, particularly for catchers, but it was 21% worse than league-average (by measure of wRC+) in the hyper-charged offensive environment in the Pacific Coast League. He also struck out in 31.4% of his plate appearances at Triple-A.

There are defensive question marks with Huff as well. Listed at 6’4″ and 240 pounds, he’s one of the largest catchers in the game. He’s drawn poor marks for his framing, blocking and throwing behind the plate, which perhaps isn’t a huge surprise given the rarity with which players of his size can stick behind the dish. The Rangers have also given him time at first base and designated hitter in an effort to get his bat into the lineup more often in Triple-A, but last year’s downturn in production and a lack of minor league options squeezed Huff off the roster in Texas.

The Giants have a fair bit of catching depth already, with starter Patrick Bailey and backups Tom Murphy and Blake Sabol all on the 40-man roster. Huff can’t head to Triple-A due to his lack of minor league options, but he could potentially give San Francisco a third catcher in the majors and a platoon partner for lefty-hitting first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. If not, it’s possible the Giants will eventually designate Huff themselves and attempt to pass him through waivers in an effort to retain him as non-roster depth.

Warren, 28, missed the bulk of the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery but returned to toss 10 2/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball down the stretch for the Giants. He agreed to a deal avoiding arbitration earlier this offseason, though per FanGraphs’ Jon Becker, he’ll be guaranteed only the $350K minor league split on that deal in the wake of this DFA.

That split could also make it easier for Warren to clear waivers, at which point the Giants could retain him as non-roster depth. In 48 2/3 innings across parts of four MLB seasons, Warren has a 3.14 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. The Giants can explore trade possibilities for the next five days but will have to place Warren on waivers if no deal comes together by that point.

White Sox Outright Corey Julks

By | at

The White Sox announced Wednesday that outfielder Corey Julks passed through waivers unclaimed and was assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte. He’ll remain with the organization as non-roster depth and be invited to big league camp this spring.

An eighth-round pick of the Astros in 2018, Julks came to the White Sox last May after he’d also been designated for assignment in Houston. Chicago sent right Luis Rodriguez, a 20-year-old reliever in Rookie ball, to the ’Stros in that swap. Julks wound up logging 66 games and 189 plate appearances for the South Siders but hit just .214/.275/.306 with poor batted-ball metrics during that time (84.9 mph average exit velocity, 28.2% hard-hit rate). He fared quite a bit better in Triple-A last year, slashing .278/.372/.470 between the two organizations.

Julks has always hit well in the upper minors. He’s a .267/.360/.491 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons and sports a .275/.339/.459 slash in a pair of Double-A campaigns. He’s a good runner (80th percentile sprint speed) with above-average arm strength who’s best suited for corner outfield work but does have the experience to handle center in a pinch.

Given the state of the White Sox’ outfield, Julks could play his way back onto the big league roster. Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr. and Mike Tauchman are slated to start for rookie skipper Will Venable in 2025, but Benintendi is coming off a pair of down seasons, while both Robert and Tauchman will be trade candidates this summer if they’re healthy and playing well. Others in the outfield mix include Dominic Fletcher, Zach DeLoach and Oscar Colas, but none of that trio has established himself as a credible big leaguer yet.

Royals Claim Braden Shewmake

By | at

The Royals announced that they have claimed Braden Shewmake off waivers from the White Sox. The infielder had been designated for assignment by Chicago a week ago when they acquired left-hander Tyler Gilbert.

Shewmake, 27, was the 21st overall pick of the 2019 draft, selected by the Braves out of Texas A&M. He’s appeared in parts of two big league seasons between Atlanta and Chicago but has only 71 plate appearances to his credit, during which he’s posted an anemic .118/.127/.191 batting line. Obviously, 71 plate appearances isn’t much to go off, but Shewmake has been a light hitter even in the upper minors; he’s a .240/.299/.395 hitter in 866 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

Though he’s never hit much, Shewmake is regarded as a sound, surehanded defender at shortstop who’s garnered additional experience at second base and third base in recent seasons. Statcast credits him with above-average sprint speed and arm strength. He still has a minor league option remaining as well, so he won’t need to make the Royals’ Opening Day roster.

Rather, Shewmake can be stashed in Triple-A as a defensive-minded depth piece who can fill in at the big league level in the event of injuries to any of Bobby Witt Jr., Jonathan India, Maikel Garcia or Michael Massey. With a strong spring, the former first-rounder could play his way into consideration for a utility role himself; he’ll join Nick Loftin and non-roster invitee Cavan Biggio in that mix.

Rays Unlikely To Move Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe

By | at

The Rays entered the offseason likely to shed some payroll via trades of veteran players — a frequent reality for the budget-crunched Tampa Bay club — which prompted many (MLBTR included) to speculate on the possibility of trading infielders Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe. The Rays are teeming with young infield options, and both players are set to earn eight-figure salaries in 2025. However, teams that have spoken to the Rays about Diaz and Lowe have been given the impression that Tampa Bay is likely to hold onto both players for the start of the upcoming season, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. More broadly, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic implies that the Rays aren’t keen on subtracting from the offense at all between now and Opening Day.

Tampa Bay has indeed shed some notable salary this winter, but it’s come in the form of trades and non-tenders. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs and his $10.5MM salary in each of the next two seasons went to the A’s in exchange for flamethrowing righty Joe Boyle, a pair of minor leaguers, and the Athletics’ Competitive Balance selection in the upcoming 2025 draft. Jose Siri (projected $2.3MM salary) was traded to the Mets in exchange for reliever Eric Orze. Nearly $10MM of additional projected salary was shed when the team non-tendered outfielder Dylan Carlson and lefties Colin Poche, Tyler Alexander and Richard Lovelady.

That collection of cost-cutting maneuvers trimmed $22-23MM from next year’s books. The only salary of note the Rays have added in place of those departures is the $8.5MM guaranteed to catcher Danny Jansen, who signed with Tampa Bay in mid-December. RosterResource currently projects the Rays for a $76MM payroll and about $104MM of luxury obligations — down from last year’s respective marks of $89MM and $115MM.

One of the motivations behind freeing up payroll space with trades of veterans would be to afford more at-bats to young players with little left to prove in Triple-A (e.g. Jonathan Aranda, Curtis Mead) while also creating flexibility to bring in other free agents of note. Circumstances well beyond the Rays’ control have hobbled any such efforts, however. The damage wrought on Tropicana Field by Hurricane Milton both left the Rays facing even more financial uncertainty than usual and also made it harder to lure free agents. The Rays will play their 2025 home games at a minor league facility — Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field, the Class-A home of the Yankees — which is going to reduce interest for plenty of players on the open market.

The Rays scored the second-fewest runs in MLB last year, with their collective 604 mark leading only the White Sox. Tampa Bay ranked 27th in the majors in batting average (.230), 24th in on-base percentage (.302), 29th in slugging percentage (.366) and 28th in home runs (147). Viewed through that lens, subtracting one or both of Diaz (.281/.341/.414, 120 wRC+) and Lowe (.244/.311/.473, 123 wRC+) would feel counterproductive — at least in a vacuum.

However, the Rays habitually trade quality players as their salaries rise and their club control dwindles. Their willingness to engage in such frequent roster churn and their ability to successfully identify quality long-term contributors in the return for such trades has become a hallmark of the organization’s success and led to near-perennial contention in a stacked AL East — despite bottom-of-the-barrel payroll numbers. Diaz is earning $10MM this coming season and has a $12MM club option (no buyout) in 2026. Lowe will be paid $10.5MM this year and has an $11.5MM club option in 2026 ($500K buyout). Both are free agents in the 2026-27 offseason.

The dwindling club control on both players will make them prime trade candidates this summer if things don’t go well for the Rays or if Tampa Bay feels their production can be replaced by turning their respective positions over to younger options. The Rays aren’t the type of club to be shy about dealing solid contributors from the roster even in the midst of contending seasons.

With regard to the 2025 roster, however, the hope will ostensibly be for inexperienced players like Aranda and third baseman Junior Caminero to make strides at the plate, while other young players like Josh Lowe and Christopher Morel hopefully rebound at the dish. Both had strong showings in 2023 before wilting in 2024. Adding Jansen should be an upgrade to a catching corps that produced disastrous results at the plate in 2024 — even if the longtime Blue Jays backstop can’t recover from his own 2024 struggles with the bat. Jansen hit just .206/.308/.348 in 328 plate appearances last year, but even that would be an upgrade over the woeful .194/.272/.291 output from Tampa Bay backstops in 2024. And, if Jansen can rediscover the .237/.317/.487 form he displayed from 2021-23, it’d be a massive boon for the Rays.

Time will tell just how the Rays’ offense recovers — or fails to recover — from last year’s doldrums. Trades can never be expressly ruled out for a club like the Rays, but for the time being, it seems they’ll hang onto the veteran bats they have and reassess their trade candidacy this summer. Others on the roster (e.g. Pete Fairbanks, Zack Littell) have also come up in trade rumblings this winter, but there’s been some recent cold water thrown on that pair being available as well.

Nationals Sign Amed Rosario

By | at

The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder Amed Rosario to a one-year contract. Right-hander Joan Adon was designated for assignment to make space on the roster. Rosario will earn $2MM on the deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s represented by Octagon.

Rosario, 29, was a solid regular in Cleveland from 2021-22, serving as the Guardians’ everyday shortstop and posting a combined .282/.316/.406 batting line (106 wRC+) with terrific baserunning but subpar defense at his position.

In 2023, however, Rosario fell into a prolonged slump and was eventually designated for assignment and traded to the Dodgers, for whom he filled a utility role down the stretch. He signed on with the Rays on a $1.5MM deal to hold down a similar multi-position role in 2024 before again being traded to the Dodgers at the deadline. His second stint in L.A. lasted only days, however, as he was designated for assignment and landed with the Reds thereafter.

Over the past two seasons, Rosario has still managed to hit .270 thanks to his speed and bat-to-ball skills, but it’s been a hollow batting average accompanied by paltry marks in on-base percentage (.305) and slugging percentage (.379). He’s essentially been a singles hitter who does most of his damage against lefties while contributing shaky defense at multiple positions. Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have both panned his work at shortstop for some time, and he’s since dabbled at second base, third base and in all three outfield positions. Second base is the only position at which he’s drawn passable grades by measure of those two public metrics.

Though it’s been a lackluster couple years for Rosario all around, he still possesses plus speed (91st percentile of MLB players, per Statcast) and showed improved life on his throws last year (72nd percentile arm strength). He draws poor grades for his range despite that footspeed. Rosario has fanned in 19.3% of his plate appearances since 2023 — right in line with his career 19.6% mark. He’s all but allergic to drawing a walk, evidenced by a career 4.3% rate and a career-low 2.6% mark in 2024. However, he makes enough contact and runs so well that he’s capable of sustaining quality batting averages at the very least.

With the Nats, Rosario again figures to slide into a utility role. Washington has Luis Garcia Jr. at second base and CJ Abrams at shortstop. Rosario could factor into the competition at third base, where Jose Tena and Trey Lipscomb are also in the mix for the Opening Day job. However, prospects Brady House and Cayden Wallace are both in the upper minors. House, a former first-round pick and consensus top-100 prospect, hit well in Double-A last year but struggled in his first exposure to Triple-A pitching. Wallace, acquired at the deadline in the trade sending Hunter Harvey to the Royals, topped out in Double-A and is a bit further behind House in his minor league progression. With a strong start to the season, either could plausibly find his way to the majors and earn a look at the hot corner.

It’s also plausible that Rosario could be deployed in a straightforward platoon with Garcia. He’s a career .298/.337/.460 hitter against southpaws compared to Garcia’s lifetime .250/.269/.356 slash against lefties. Garcia has been far better against righties, hitting .277/.313/.428 in his career — including a personal-best .288/.326/.469 during last year’s breakout season.

Washington’s signing of Rosario will come at the expense of the 26-year-old Adon, who’s pitched for the Nats in each of the past four seasons. A 2016 international signee out of the Dominican Republic, Adon has logged 132 1/3 innings in the majors but never found consistency; he carries a career 6.66 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 45.3% ground-ball rate. He ranked as highly as No. 7 among Nationals’ prospects back in 2022, per Baseball America.

Adon averages nearly 95 mph on his heater and has been a durable rotation member in the upper minors, but he’s never replicated the strong 2019 season that put him on the prospect map in the first place. He’s had some work as a reliever in the minors recently, and he has enough velocity as a starter to create some intrigue about how he’d work as a power-armed bullpen piece. Command has been a consistent issue for the big righty, however, and he’s out of minor league options — meaning the Nats would’ve had to carry him on the Opening Day roster or else designate him for assignment a few months from now anyway.

Washington will have five days to trade Adon. At that point, he’d need to be placed on waivers (a 48-hour process). If he clears, he could be retained as non-roster depth. Within a week’s time, he’ll know the outcome of today’s DFA.

Joc Pederson’s Contract Allows Rangers To Override Opt-Out By Exercising 2027 Option

By | at

The Rangers’ two-year, $37MM deal with slugger Joc Pederson was agreed to late last month and announced shortly before the New Year, but it seems full details of the arrangement weren’t made clear at the time. It’s already known that Pederson’s deal contains a mutual option for 2027 and that he can opt out of his contract following the 2025 season. However, the Associated Press reports that the Rangers can override Pederson’s opt-out by exercising that mutual option a year in advance. The contract also contains a no-trade clause, per the AP.

Effectively, if Pederson signals his intent to opt out, the Rangers can veto his return to the open market by agreeing to commit another two years and $37MM. It could become an even pricier commitment for Texas, though, as Pederson’s contract contains escalators that would boost his 2026-27 salaries up to $21.5MM in the event that he wins a Silver Slugger or is named to the All-MLB team (first or second team) at season’s end. That’d mean committing two years and $43MM to Pederson in order to override the opt-out. Paired with his $5.5MM signing bonus and $13MM salary in 2025, Pederson’s contract can max out at a hefty $61.5MM over three years if he turns in a big enough season.

Pederson, 33 in April, has never won a Silver Slugger Award or earned All-MLB honors (dating back to the inception of the All-MLB teams in 2019). He certainly has enough pop in his bat to do so, but his long-running struggles against left-handed pitching have both weighed down his rate stats and likely kept him from accumulating the playing time to mash his way into consideration. Pederson is just a .210/.300/.330 hitter in his career against southpaws, compared to a .246/.349/.494 output against righties. The D-backs afforded him only 42 plate appearances against lefties last year (.219/.405/.344), but Pederson decimated righties with a .281/.392/.531 showing.

Even absent the escalators, the revelations of a no-trade clause and the team’s ability to override Pederson’s opt-out provision are plenty notable on their own. Texas, after all, was willing to commit a guaranteed two years and $37MM to Pederson this offseason. If he performs to expectations, they’ll essentially have the option to make that same commitment for his age-34 and age-35 seasons, which would lock the slugger in as a Ranger through 2027.

It’s also worth pointing out that there’s no scenario where Pederson can opt out and receive a qualifying offer from the team; Pederson already received (and accepted) a qualifying offer from the Giants following his All-Star 2022 season. Players can only receive one qualifying offer in their career. As such, if Pederson triggers his opt-out in November, the Rangers’ choices will be to extend him for another two years or to let him return to the open market with no compensation for his potential departure.

Rays Sign Drew Rasmussen To Extension

By | at

The Rays finalized a two-year extension with right-hander Drew Rasmussen on Tuesday afternoon. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client is guaranteed $8.5MM for what would have been his final two arbitration years. The deal includes a 2027 club option that has a base value of $8MM.

He will receive a $500K signing bonus, a $2MM salary next season, and a $5.5MM salary in 2026. The option comes with a $500K buyout. Various escalators could increase the option value by another $12MM. The price could increase anywhere between $1.5MM and $6MM based on Rasmussen’s health over the next two seasons. He could unlock another $6MM based on his start totals in 2026: $500,000 for eight starts, $750,000 for 12, $1MM each for 16 and 20, $1.25MM for 24 and $1.5MM for 28.

Ramussen, 29, missed the bulk of the 2023-24 seasons recovering from an internal brace procedure to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. That surgery tamped down his workload in both seasons as well as his expected price tag in arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a modest $2MM salary for the talented righty in the upcoming season. By virtue of his salary and that signing bonus, he’ll top that sum under this new multi-year arrangement while also sacrificing a year of free agency to lock in some immediate earnings.

It’s an understandable trade-off for Rasmussen, who didn’t get a full look in a big league rotation until his age-26 season (2022) and has since missed ample time due to injury. A sixth-round pick of the Brewers back in 2018, Rasmussen signed for just a $135K bonus and didn’t make his big league debut until 2020. In total, he’s earned under $4MM in his career thus far.

Rasmussen was traded from Milwaukee to Tampa Bay in the 2021 deal that sent Willy Adames to the Brewers. He was sharp down then stretch in a hybrid role for Tampa Bay but had a full-fledged breakout in 2022, That season, Rasmussen pitched a career-high 146 innings and turned in a 2.84 earned run average with a slightly below-average 21.4% strikeout rate against a terrific 5.3% walk rate. He kept the ball on the ground at a strong 46.6% clip. Rasmussen averaged 95.5 mph on his heater, deftly avoided hard contact and recorded a 12.1% swinging-strike rate that suggested more punchouts could be in the tank down the road.

That indeed looked to be the case early in 2023, too. Rasmussen notched an even better 2.62 ERA but saw his strikeout rate spike to 26.6%. He maintained plus command (6.2%) and also saw his ground-ball rate surge to 52.6% — an increase of six percentage points over the prior season. For a span of 36 starts from 2022-23, Rasmussen pitched like a genuine No. 1 or 2 starter — a clear playoff arm who could pitch near the front of any rotation.

Injuries, however, had other ideas for the talented righty. The Rays announced on July 8, 2023 that Rasmussen would require surgery. He wound up missing 13 months of action, returning to a big league mound on Aug. 7 of this past season. The Rays used him primarily as a reliever. He “started” four games but did so throwing only two innings apiece and working as an opener. The results, however, were excellent. In 28 2/3 frames, Rasmussen posted a 2.83 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 53.3% grounder rate.

The plan now is for Rasmussen to return to the rotation. He’ll join Shane McClanahan (returning from Tommy John surgery), Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Shane Baz and Zack Littell in a very talented mix of arms. Each of McClanahan, Rasmussen and Baz could face some form of workload limitations, as Baz has yet to pitch a full season since returning from his own ligament surgery in 2022 — though he did pitch 118 2/3 innings combined between Triple-A and the majors in 2024.

For the Rays, there’s little to no impact on their 2025 budget. Rasmussen will only earn a nominal $500K more than his projected arbitration price, thanks to that signing bonus. They’ll also lock in the right-hander’s 2026 salary, gaining some cost certainty. It’s possible that Rasmussen could’ve outpaced that $5.5MM salary in arbitration with a big year, but likely not by much, given the low platform from which he’d be starting. The concession for locking in that ’26 salary is giving up a would-be free-agent season — his age-31 year. So long as he’s healthy, that option will pay him at least $8MM, though with good health there’s a good chance it’ll be a fair bit higher.

While it’s not quite to the same scale as the Rays’ extension with former ace Tyler Glasnow, there are some parallels here. Tampa Bay is putting down some guaranteed money on a talented but oft-injured righty. Glasnow’s $25MM salary in the final season of his own extension was guaranteed, whereas Rasmussen will have to remain healthy to push close to that number. Still, it’s a potentially weighty salary by the Rays’ standards, and one that could render Rasmussen a trade candidate down the road. The extension gives the Rays some extra control over a potential frontline arm but also a viable trade candidate down the road. It’s perhaps cynical to point out the manner in which an extension boosts a player’s trade value in the immediate aftermath of the agreement, but the Rays have a track record of operating in this manner.

For the time being, Rasmussen will head into the season as a locked-in member of a deep and talented rotation. The Rays haven’t done much to improve their middling lineup — though Danny Jansen provides a potential notable upgrade behind the plate. Rather, they’ll apparently hope for big strides from ballyhooed third baseman Junior Caminero and rebounds from Josh Lowe and Christopher Morel, both of whom experienced notable drops at the plate following very productive 2023 campaigns.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported that the Rays and Rasmussen were nearing a two-year, $8.5MM extension with an $8MM option for 2027. Topkin reported the presence of escalators in the option, which The Associated Press specified.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top